Totally Normal (A Hobbit story)

The Company

I ran to the wizard, who seemed happy to see me. "Tanya." He said, while wrapping me in a hug. "I knew you would find your way."

I looked up at him. "I know the way. I'm not a dunce." I stated.

Gandalf's smile didn't disappear, but only seemed to get bigger. "Of course you're not. I never said you were." He replied in his happy mood. "Now let's enjoy ourselves for the time." He says, letting go of me.

'Exactly how much time was he referring to?'  I didn't ask out loud, so I got no answer.

Gandalf waddled off with his head low, trying to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling. I tried hard to hide a laugh every time his head did  hit the ceiling.

I strode to the dining room where all the dwarves seemed to have gone.

And what could poor Baggins do but complain about the raiding of food. "Put that back. Put that back. Put that back." He kept saying over and over. It confused me why he would say that. Didn't he know guests were coming?

Gandalf held tall a stack of plates, so I went over to help him. "Tanya, could you be a dear and help set the table?" He asks.

I nodded, and took half of his stack.  I carefully set the table, not wanting to break anything because the dishes actually looked top quality.

As soon as the dwarves noticed what we were doing, they each took a seat wherever there was a plate.

When my task was done, I went over to Gandalf, who just seemed to be watching the party. I tried to never get involved with a crowd, and large groups of people kind of panicked me. And I had no idea how large the group would be, but I should have guessed by the end goal.

"Hello." I muttered.

Gandalf nodded to me." I am glad you decided to join the Company, Tanya." He said.

I wasn't sure if I was onboard yet though. I nodded in response.

"I just hope I don't disappoint anyone." I said.

Gandalf hmmed at me. "Disappoint? Tanya dear, you are powerful and strong. Believe it or not your father spoke of how all you wanted to do was help people. To use your gifts to save others."

I smiled at that. "I always wanted to be a healer. My sister and I used to tend to others when we were... when we were..." I couldn't finish my sentence. I hadn't spoken of my family in years, and I dared not remember the place.

Gandalf looked down. He wasn't there, but he knew the history. "Well, I am happy you are here." He said.

"Excuse me, Mr. Gandalf?" A friendly looking dwarf came up behind Gandalf. "May I tempt you with a cup of chamomile" he asked, holding a tea-pot.

"Oh no, thank you Dori. A little red wine for me, I think." He responded with a bit of a chuckle.

The dwarf (Dori, I believe) then turned to me. "What about you, lass?"

I nodded sweetly, not minding tea. "Oh why not." I muttered, taking the cup. I didn't want to seem rude after all. "Oh, and it's, Tanya." I added.

"Dori." He replied. He gave me a gracious look before walking away.

I smiled again, and left Gandalf's side to explore through the house, until I found a small armchair to sit in. It wasn't exactly my chair, but it was as close as I was going to get at the moment.

I sipped my tea, contemplating how the house is different from mine, until a loud crash interrupted me. I looked around to see the source, and was met by the two young dwarves from earlier, in a fight.